About Me

I'm inspired by my daughter, Chelsea, who has been blogging about her fashion (and life) journeys for the last six months.
Fashion should be fun, it should make you feel good about yourself, it should lift your spirits. Passing the 50 year mark doesn't automatically disqualify you from feeling cute, or sexy, or stylish or FABULOUS! My goal is to blog about finding the best look I can each day, that makes me feel my best. I'm not talking about the over-done matchy matchy look, but a casual chic that takes me anywhere.
I grew up in Texas but have moved around the country - from Texas to California to Washington, DC and now the Midwest. I love shopping for fashion, especially my favorite charitable resale shop - The Scholar Shop - in St Louis, MO. I feel better when I take care with what I'm wearing, whether it's a casual day or special event. Like the man said, "Clothes make the (wo)man!"

I know this photo is from a couple of weeks ago, but I have taken some new ones. I am trying to catch up on posting. I like to draw out the suspense, so I'll try to limit myself to one post a day for awhile. Let me know what you think...

Saturday, June 26, 2010

Mary - at Writing Without Periods - recently asked me to "guest blog" on her site for her Sensational Woman Saturday feature. It was such a compliment to be asked - AND I had a lot of fun with the questions she posed. Her blog is a hip, funny, sassy, interesting take on life after periods. As I am a huge fan of menopause (no more periods, ladies!), I am interested in how other women experience the journey.

Thursday, June 17, 2010

The structure of this top takes me back to the days of "Flashdance" (or at least the 80s). I LOVE the graphic - the eyes and lips remind me of Andy Warhol as channeled by Jean Paul Gaultier for Target. It's fun to wear, I wore it with skinny black slacks and a tank top. I could have gone with heels or flats, but the heels won out today.

I've shopped at Target a few times with their new "pop up" lines - this was the Jean Paul Gaultier line they produced about a month ago. There were about a dozen pieces, but this was the one that caught my eye. A lot of bloggers have loved the Liberty of London line, but I wasn't ready for the florals. There were some adorable Zac Posen pieces recently, but they weren't age appropriate (maybe the late teens/early twenties set).

Something about the color orange calls to me, I seem to feel more cheerful when I'm wearing orange. Sunny color, sunshine, mood lifter, all good things...

You can probably tell that I'm quite tan after our vacation in Florida. I wear sunscreen, but we spent a lot of time out by the pool; and every morning I spent 30-45 minutes on a run/walk in the Florida sunshine. I've been exercising outdoors since spring began here in the Midwest. I usually set out around 7:00 or 7:30 am, trying to beat out the thunderstorms and heat here! I'm enjoying the outdoors - I walk in a beautiful park with lots of trees and ponds - I've had to dodge the geese and ducks (with their baby goslings and ducklings) on more than one occasion! I also work out with weights 3 times a week. Consistent, regular exercise makes me feel good - it's not just the benefits I get physically, I get an emotional boost as well. My very favorite exercise is "hot yoga" - a vinyasa flow yoga class in a room heated to 90-95 degrees. Unfortunately, six months ago or so my shoulder went wonky on me - some kind of impingement - so I haven't been able to do yoga in months! I hope to get back to it soon!

Anywhoo - back to the whole point of this blog - the clothes! I found the orange top (by Moth - a brand we find at Anthropologie) at The Scholar Shop (of course). The white tank is from H&M - and I have been wearing one of these almost every day! The cropped khakis are Talbots - but I bought them at TJ Maxx (because I really, really hate to pay retail). The sandals are Donald Pliner - I bought them at a E&J's Shoe Warehouse an amazing discount shoe place in St Louis.

By the way, the title is a reference to the classic knock-knock joke: KK - WT? Banana - banana who (repeat until your audience's eyes glaze); and finally end with the punch line above.

Saturday, June 12, 2010

I can't believe that spring is almost over. Here in the heartland we are having WILD weather days - we've had some crazy thunderstorms with lightning, thunder and high winds.

Sometimes I find it challenging to dress for the days with the unstable weather forecast. I have my wonderful Marc by Marc Jacobs black rain boots - with a heel. I found a cotton trench coat recently at The Gap - for about $25 on mega-sale. It's just waterproof enough - without being too heavy and hot for the season. So, you'll see a lot of both of those pieces in my most recent pics.

I'm enjoying the lighter colors and shades of the season. You'll note, however, there is one "shades of grey" outfit. I remember that day was a gloomy, chilly, gray day with rain - and rather than fight the mood I just wallowed in it. This is very similar to an outfit I wore in the winter, when I layered it with wool instead of cotton.

Another rainy day started out sunny and nice - but called for (with success) torrential rain later in the day. That day I went with the sunny outlook and layered pinks to stay cheerful. When the rain came, I swapped the sandals for the boots and added the trench.

I thought I'd post a guest appearance - my darling husband. In this photo he's wearing one of his Canali sportcoats, and a new Polo golf shirt. Isn't he handsome? He's a big supporter of my blog and my fashion journey.

Finally, here's another fun outfit. I found this cute Milly skirt at the Scholar Shop, and layered it with a cream cardigan and a brown tank top, finishing it all off with a skinny belt. I liked it when I wore it, but the belt hangs funny in the photos, so now I'm not so sure.